Ole Miss moves up three spots in AP poll after record win at Arkansas

The Ole Miss football team has moved up three spots in the latest top 25 from the Associated Press following a blowout win at Arkansas on Saturday.

Lane Kiffin’s squad, now ranked No. 16, ended a 16-year curse of not winning a game in Fayetteville. And the Rebels (7-2, 3-2 SEC) did so in dominant fashion, ousting the Razorbacks (5-4, 3-3 SEC) 63-31 courtesy of valiant outings by veteran quarterback Jaxson Dart and reliable wideout Jordan Watkins.

Dart threw for a career-high 515 yards and tied Eli Manning and Matt Corral for most passing touchdowns in a game (6) to a shorthanded crew with Tre Harris and Caden Prieskorn notably absent. The Kaysville, Utah native became the second SEC player in history to have over 500 passing yards and six touchdowns in a game, joining former Missouri quarterback and current New York Giant Drew Lock.

Watkins, with five scores against the Razorbacks, broke an Ole Miss receiving touchdown record Harris had claimed in his Rebel debut at the beginning of the 2024 season. Touchdowns aside, Watkins was Dart’s go-to guy and amassed 254 receiving yards, a program-best, on eight receptions.

On the defensive side of the ball, where Ole Miss has flourished all year, Arkansas transfer Chris “Pooh” Paul, Jr. led the way with six tackles, two of which were for a loss, and a pass deflection. Pete Golding’s defense was responsible for eight sacks. Linebacker TJ Dottery and edge rusher Princely Umanmielen had two sacks apiece.

Altogether, the Rebels had a whopping 200 more total yards than their conference counterpart in what appeared to be a corner-turning performance ahead of arguably the most consequential battle of the season. A full recap of the game can be found here.

Next up for Ole Miss is a must-win matchup versus No. 2 Georgia (7-1, 5-1 SEC) this coming Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT. The game will be broadcast on ABC and participating SuperTalk Mississippi stations.

Leading up to the contest, the inaugural College Football Playoff poll of the 2024 season will be released on Tuesday. Though Ole Miss is not anticipated to be included in the expanded 12-team pool, a win on Saturday would keep the Rebels’ hopes of making a playoff debut alive.

For now, the AP’s top 25 can be found below: